I have now installed and tested two more free substitutes for Windows Live Movie Maker – OpenShot and Shotcut.
Right from the start, both OpenShot and Shotcut were easier to install than Kdenlive. Both were a straightforward, standard install with no UAC issues nor any of the other problems documented in my previous post.
There are plenty of reviews on line so I will just briefly confirm the good reviews for all three programs. If I was forced to make a choice, I would slightly favour Kdenlive BUT probably go with either OpenShot or Shotcut because of the install procedure for Kdenlive.
Also, all three could be compared more to programs like Premier Elements or Video Studio rather than Windows Live Movie Maker (WLMM). This is because they are far more fully featured and lack the simplicity and ease of use of WLMM.
To use these programs,I had to refer to on line tutorials and YouTube videos but, just like The Gimp, this is a small price to pay for what you get (for free).
However, after using The Gimp for many years I eventually paid for Photoshop Elements when it became available in the Microsoft Store and also as it was at a 30% discount when it first came out in the store . (I also recently paid for paint.net when it appeared in the store. Even though paint.net can still be downloaded for free, it is only a few dollars and I paid for it to partly make up for all the times I downloaded it for free and ignored the donate button.)
I still have WLMM and intend to hang onto it for as long as I can and I can fall back on iMovie on my MacBook. Eventually, if I need a video editor in future, I would probably buy one of the cheaper programs like Nero Video or Corel Video Studio Pro.
Programs like the free ones mentioned and things like Premier Elements are overkill for simple quick projects. But at least there are viable free alternatives.
It will be interesting to see what the video editing add on for Win 10 Photos App will be like.